The motto of the book ?Howard?s End? by E.M Forster is ?Only Connect??

At PowerSwitch, we want people to once again ?Only Connect?.

LocalPower (working title) is a Peak Oil/Climate Change/Sustainability networking site that has been under development by PowerSwitch for the last 18months by volunteers with the specific aim of helping those interested in these issues to find others in their area and then do something about it (such as developing Transition Towns, or lobbying, or just a local support group). In many ways this is the most important thing that PowerSwitch is doing right now.

However, the project has understandably experienced delays in its development due to the fact that this can only be done in spare time, of which our developer has found increasingly little. Like all good software development, it has resulted in the launch continually slipping. We are determined to get LocalPower developed into a functioning website that can be used and then if necessary refined at a later date.

We are therefore looking for voluntary donations to finish this project. We have received an estimate for the work to be completed of ?2500, and as such we are looking for fifty people to donate ?50 each. We will of course accept donations greater or smaller, but feel that ?50 is, although not a small amount, certainly not a large amount to put towards helping a grass-roots response to the problems we face.

I know there are many requests for donations but I hope you will not ignore this one.

LocalPower?s functions essentially are:
? Enter your postcode and immediately find and contact people and groups closest to you.
? Allows people to set up and manage groups and communication.
? Organise events.

All we are looking for at this moment is pledges to complete this project. If you have any pledges, comments or questions please email me at james@powerswitch.org.uk

We have never requested donations in this way before, never wanted to, but now we have to. We hope that we have developed enough trust over the last four years to support what we consider to be a very important project. Your donation could make a really big difference.

Hi Andy, we would welcome all help. The trouble we have had is that very few people know Ruby on Rails. If this had been developed in a more common language this would probably be live now. If you want to have a go, please let me know._________________www.PowerSwitch.org.uk

James , would you not be better developing it in PHP or something more popular? The trouble with a less well known language is that it can end up being expensive to develop and expensive to support into the future. I haven't been involved so I don't want to speak to much out of turn, but it is too late for a rethink? Just trying to be helpful.....

Come to think of it ?2,500 is a fair bit of dosh and is more appropriate to the commercial arena. Usually in a site like this somebody or group of people do the development on a weekend basis FOC or for a very low rate. Maybe you should try to push for this kind of set-up?_________________Real money is gold and silver